Parent/child pairs- how did you get started in CAP?

[UH60guy]

Here's my question since (oh crap oh crap oh crap) my wife is due in to give birth to our first child in five days (that's due in 5 days, not that she cranks out one per week):

For those parent-child pairs in CAP, how did your child get interested in CAP? Was there "encouragement" on your end? Or did their curiosity over where mon/dad went every week in the spiffy uniform lead to their interest? Some sort of emulation? Heard about it in school separate from your volunteer work? I'm not asking so much based on the cadets who pulled their parents into CAP, but the inverse.

You see, I never heard of CAP growing up, and man I feel like I would have loved it. I'd love to give my child the opportunity I never had, if she's interested. I'm sure the number of ways cadets got involved is widely varied, and obviously every kid is different, but I'd love to hear any stories out there out of curiosity.

[THRAWN]

Congrats! Mischief Night is the "anniversary" of when we found out we were pregnant.....go ahead, we've heard all the jokes before....Being a father puts everything else into perspective. Best of luck to you and your new family.

My son is about 8 years out from being a cadet, if he chooses to go that route. We live about a mile form the airport where our wing hq is located. There is also an ANG base, a ARNG rotorhead station, and a commercial port there as well. He loves going and checking out the planes, and really likes the pop and color of the CAP planes. He is getting pretty good at picking them out during the daily "airshow" we get as planes fly over our neighborhood.

I know a lot of parent/child combos. In most cases, the cadet convinced the parent to join. They had to drive anyway, might as well do something instead of just sitting there. I have found that the parents tend to stay on long after the cadets move on to other things.

[Ned]

Both my wife and I have remained deeply involved in CAP since we were cadets.

(But since we lived in different parts of the state, we didn't date until we were seniors.    )

So, our kids literally grew up with CAP.  They attended countless meetings and activities just by the virtue of being stuck with us.  As it turns out, one child joined as a cadet and one did not.

(The one that did not later wound up attending a police academy and had to ask her sibling for shoe shining and uniform inspection advice.    )

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

My daughter is about 2 years from being eligible to join. She's known for years that dad sometime went out in uniform at odd hours to help people (ELTs before the great 406 revolution) and has talked about being a cadet for years. She went to 1 encampment graduation in a set of BDUs with an ultramarine HIRONS tape. (No CAP tape, no wing patch)

That said the decision to join will be hers. I'd have the option of her joining either CT or RI Wing (I've been a member of both squadrons in question)  Not sure if it would be better to have her in the wing where I'm IG or not.

[Garibaldi]

I have a different situation but hardly unique. My roommate has two kids, a son and daughter. She, the mom, had asked me about the cadet program, thinking it would be her son that would want to join. To our surprise, he said no, but daughter wants to join. I have been in training for a new job that has kept me away from meetings, and every day it's "when are we going?" Mom is coming with us next week, and I may convince her to join just so she can keep an eye on daughter.  I have a few reservations and I think mom has a few more, but I really believe it will be a good experience for her. I said I would pay for the first year and outlined my expectations in return. She is very excited. Mom and I are not involved other than being best friends, but we both have a vested interest in daughter's future.

[Walkman]

My oldest son had wanted for several years to be in the military, and toyed with the idea of flying as well. We saw a newspaper article on the local cadets winning regional color guard competition and thought he might enjoy the program. My wife dropped him off for the first meeting and I went to pick him after work. I started chatting with the other SMs and said "Hey, if you ever need a hand with anything, I'd be willing to help out". That's when they got out the SM brochure and I was hooked. I had tried to enlist many years before and wasn't able to. Honestly CAP became a dream come true.

That son is 19 now. He was an alternate on the color guard team that went to NCC, had fun doing FTXs in the mountains and enjoyed every o-flight (he hated being in a glider, though). He said he might join back as a SM someday.

He went inactive for a little while, but came back. While he was gone, I stayed in the program. It became more than something I did as a parent while my kid was involved like some activities (scouts, little league, etc). CAP is MY thing.

He has three younger brothers:14, 13, & 9. The 14 y.o. wanted to check it out, decided it wasn't for him. The 13 y.o. is testing this month for his 2nd stripe and loving it. Looking ahead, I'd be surprised if my 9 y.o. doesn't join when he hits 12.

One thing I'll say for being the parent/child combo: my oldest and I have a great relationship because we got to spend so much time together doing fun things in CAP. I was also his scout leader & youth minister for all his teen years, but having the opportunity to hang out and do things we mutually enjoyed so frequently helped us to become more like friends.

[Private Investigator]

None of my children were interested in CAP. The two oldest ones eventually joined the Navy. 

[JC004]

My grandparents were in CAP (I mostly grew up in my grandmother's house from early teen years).  After years of seeing my grandparents' stuff like old uniform items, my grandfather's Medal of Valor, photographs, newspaper articles, CAP records, etc. (and hearing stories) I looked it up at the appropriate age and joined.  Did some of the same stuff they'd done, after hearing about their time.  Grandfather got an award for lifesaving, then 20 years later, I did.  My grandmother rejoined for a bit while I was a cadet.  Some of the people around when I was a cadet knew my grandparents when they were senior members.  They were great to have around and very encouraging to me.

[Майор Хаткевич]

I must say, your rack is quite inspiring.

[JC004]

Me?!

[Майор Хаткевич]

Me?!

Yes Sir!

[JC004]

Me?!

Yes Sir!

Na....I don't have a bunch of high awards or anything.  My ribbons just mean that I signed up for everything I could fit in.  I started doing a ton of ES because my squadron had NOBODY with anything above GES, so I needed to get qualifications to bring back.  I did TTT, CTTT (was the only cadet in the wing with CTTT), and every mission I could to get my missions for quals.  Even went on missions with other units, when mine wasn't sending anyone.  Heck, I've gone on missions during other activities (several times).  Plus, I live in a place that has had a number of major storms and such in my CAP time.  Most of my awards, I can't wear, like Communicator of the Year, Air Force Association Cadet of the Year for Pennsylvania, stuff like that.  I need to make some additions to my ribbon set before I order real ones, but I have to gather paperwork for additions first (records were poorly maintained...had to do stuff like get copies from other units to update what I have so far).

Went to lots of other activities, too, like national conferences (I think that I was a C/SSgt for my first).  Did tons of training - whatever was around.  Helped out with lots of things - even just set up at national conferences and what have you.  Kept me occupied while a lot of other cadets were doing things that got them in trouble (I got roped as being present when some cadets were drinking at a national conference.  I had to go down to the conference ops center and get the national staff who I was assisting at the time to attest to me being with them the whole time).  Inaugural class of Civic Leadership Academy.  Encampments.  Was the only cadet on group staff.  Taught lots of classes.  Became an ROA instructor.  Ran various activities.  Was a founder of the Basic Cadet Orientation Program (BCOP) in the wing.  Lots and lots of stuff.

I keep tweaking this signature block, but I think that I might settle on badges instead if I can get nice-looking badges.  My Photoshop skills are lacking and there aren't a lot of good badge renderings out there.  If anyone has some really nice badge graphics, I'd like to see them. 

[Майор Хаткевич]

When do you put on your third community service ribbon? :0

[JC004]

I only own one in the virtual world (I do have the President's Call to Service Award, which is for 4,000 hours or more).  I haven't bought some of the ribbons.  I try to keep service coat wear down.  Once a year is more than enough.

I was encouraged along in a lot of my activities, thanks to the people who knew my grandparents (and my grandmother herself when she re-joined).  I was always finding new people who knew them.  Once, in the course of one of those usual conversations, it went like so: "How did you get into CAP?"  "My grandparents were members in Group 100."  "I was in Group 100.  Who were your grandparents?"  Told her about them, to which she replied, "He was my commander!  I always wondered if they got married!" 

Folks straight-up told me that they expected more of me because of them, so I always tried to do more (and better).  As I was saying, it actually kept me out of trouble because there were multiple occasions were cadets would be off doing something bad and I'd be quietly working by myself to develop a program or whatever.  Wild parties, and especially the drinking kind and all didn't interest me.  I also strictly avoided in-CAP dating because of all that drama.  I wanted to do stuff like serve group and wing....not get tangled up in high school games.

Having them in my background made me a better cadet, more efficient, and kept me out of trouble (even if I had to prove it a couple times, like with the previously-mentioned conference...lol.  Not sure what happened to those cadets, but I had my fun and really enjoyed spending time with the colonels and generals).  Once, a wing commander from another wing was teaching me piano while the other cadets were getting into trouble, but I enjoyed that and had a fun night. 

[Private Investigator]

Excellent story, thanks for sharing   :clap:

[JC004]

I'd say that "encouragement" in the form of pressure to meet a higher performance standard can be an issue for parent/child pairs in CAP.  That can be a good thing. 

[Walkman]

I haven't dealt with this, but I'm sure the parent/child dynamics radically change when the parent is in a command slot.

[Private Investigator]

I haven't dealt with this, but I'm sure the parent/child dynamics radically change when the parent is in a command slot.

It does just like in little league. The child could be the worst player but the parent is the coach and junior is playing first base.   

[EMT-83]

I've seen it work both ways:

The commander's kid has to work twice as hard as everyone else, so there is no illusion of favoritism.

The commander doesn't even bother to wink and nod when breaking the rules for his kid.

[futura]

My son approached me after we took him to check out the Boy Scouts. I asked him why CAP and he shot back with a long list of friends and family members that we in. Proud to say that he was a third generation Mitchell award recipient. He will be graduating UMASS next semester and the friend that signed up with him Cornell. Agreed that it brought us closer and that the program made a real difference in the lives of both young men.